Dick Harp

Dick Harp (1918-2000)

Teams coached: Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas record: 121-82 (.596)
Overall record^: 121-82 (.596)

Career Accomplishments:

• NCAA National Championships:  0  (Runner-up in 1957)
• NCAA Tournament Appearances:  2  (1957, 1960)
• NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen:  2  (1957, 1960)
• NCAA Tournament Final Four:  1  (1957)
• NIT Championships:  0
• NIT Appearances:  0
• Big Seven/Eight Regular Season Champion:  2  (1957, 1960)

Awards:

• Big Eight Coach of the Year:  1  (1960)

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

1986-1989	North Carolina (asst)
1956-1964	Kansas
1948-1956	Kansas (asst)
1946-1948	William Jewell College

Dick Harp Facts

• Richard F. Harp
• Born March 28, 1918
• Died March 18, 2000
• Hometown: Kansas City, Kansas
• Alma Mater: University of Kansas (BA, 1940)
• After graduating from Rosedale HS (KS), Harp played basketball at Kansas under legendary head coach Phog Allen
  • Was a starter for the Jayhawks for three years, helping lead the 1940 squad to a NCAA Runner-up finish (lost to Indiana)
  • Served as a master sergeant in the Army for four years during World War II
• Started his coaching career at William Jewell College in Missouri, leading that program for two seasons
• Became an assistant on Allen’s staff at Kansas in 1948, working in this capacity for eight seasons
  • Was part of the 1951-52 team that won the NCAA National Championship title
• Took over as head coach in 1956 when Allen reached KU’s mandatory retirement age
  • Led by prized recruit Wilt Chamberlain, Harp’s first team reached the 1957 NCAA title game (lost to North Carolina)
  • Harp went 121-82 over eight seasons, winning two Big Seven/Eight titles and reaching the NCAA Sweet Sixteen twice
• Resigned from his position in 1964, later spending 13 years as the director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
• Returned to coaching in 1986, spending three seasons on Dean Smith‘s staff at North Carolina
  • Harp was an assistant coach at Kansas while Smith was a Jayhawks’ player (1949-53)
  • During his time at UNC, Harp worked alongside Roy Williams and encouraged Williams to take the Kansas job in 1988
• Passed away in 2000, just shy of his 82nd birthday; survived by his wife, Martha, and their son, Richard
  • Posthumously inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame (c/o 2011)

Dick Harp Coaching Tree

• Ted Owens (Oral Roberts, Kansas)

 

^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I level only